Booklist

Moving from America’s Gilded Age through WWI’s aftermath in Europe, Edwards’ delightfully imaginative second novel follows a courageous woman’s singular accomplishments and their far-reaching effects on history. In 1898, vivacious Eleanor Putnam returns to Boston from Vienna despondent after losing her greatest love, Wheeler Burden, but with important plans to set in motion. The journal Wheeler left behind predicts major twentieth-century events and tells Eleanor everything she must do to make her future and that of her descendants turn out as they should. This involves making secret investments, marrying her unexciting suitor, introducing Freud to America, and convincing a Viennese scholar, Arnauld Esterhazy, to teach at a Boston boys’ school. She succeeds brilliantly, but Arnauld’s unexpected wartime death threatens to destroy everything she worked for. Eleanor discovers she has a surprising amount of latitude for personal choice within her predetermined life, which keeps the plot unpredictable and fresh. Intelligent and romantic, The Lost Prince can stand independently of The Little Book (2008), which told Wheeler’s story, but why deprive yourself of the pleasures of reading both?

Selden Edwards began writing The Little Book as a young English teacher in 1974, and continued to layer and refine the manuscript until its completion in 2007 (read the full bio...)

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Recent Reviews

Now we have the sequel, "The Lost Prince," and readers who are hoping that Edwards will continue with his "big ideas" — destiny, history, the role of the individual, undying love — will not be disappointed.

Time travel back to the turn of the 20th century with Selden Edwards’ THE LOST PRINCE. With a cast of characters that includes Sigmund Freud, Carl Jung, and William James, it’s like Midnight in Paris for the neurotic set.

“This is a strange and unique love story. On the heels of Edwards' debut novel, "The Little Book" (which took the former English teacher 30 years to write), the author has crafted a daring follow-up. "The Lost Prince" is dense, in no hurry to answer plenty of early questions that it sets up. Indeed, many of these questions span the length of the book, as the reader wades through lengthy discussions and correspondence between the characters. Fortunately, the storytelling doesn't drag… Ultimately, the book is a meditation on love, faith, free will and one's purpose in life.

Press & Media

Garth Stein on The Lost Prince

“Brilliant. Selden Edwards is a writer of great intellect and wit, and his books are a joy to read. I love The Lost Prince. The Little Book made such an impression on me; The Lost Prince is even better.”

-Garth Stein, author of The Art of Racing in the Rain

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Pat Conroy on The Lost Prince

“I loved Selden Edwards’s first novel The Little Book and told everyone I knew about it. I just read his second novel The Lost Prince and think that Mr. Edwards has written his finest work so far. Once again, Selden Edwards demonstrates his mastery in blending together philosophy and art with the help of wonderful characters you fall in love with. The Lost Prince is a terrific second novel.”-Pat Conroy